Murray Sneaks In; Did Andy Roddick Say Goodbye to Wimbledon?
- 21 Comments
No. 4 seed Andy Murray beat the clock Saturday night at Wimbledon, defeating Marcos Baghdatis 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 under a closed roof on center court at 11:02 p.m., two minutes after the Wimbledon curfew.
ADHEREL
“I think the quality of tennis improved under the roof,” Murray said. “I was under the impression I was stopping at 11:00 regardless of what the score was. Even if it was in the middle of a game. But, yeah, obviously glad that I managed to get the finish. And the atmosphere at the end was excellent.”
Murray in the round of 16 will meet No. 16 seed Marin Cilic, who survived a marathon match with American Sam Querrey 7-6(6), 6-4, 6-7(2), 6-7(3) 17-15 in five hours and 31 minutes, the second longest match in tournament history.
“We didn’t have too many rallies that were physically tough,” Cilic said. “It was a lot of serving and one or two shots. It’s more of walking in the match for that long. I played this year also five hours and 10 minutes with [David] Nalbandian on clay in Argentina in Davis Cup, so that was really difficult physically. I would say this was more mentally tough to stay in there and to cope with all the things that are coming.”
No. 5 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was another winner Saturday, defeating Slovakian Lukas Lacko in a 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. He will next meet No. 10 seed Mardy Fish, who ended the run of 2012 success story David Goffin of Belgium 6-3, 7-6(6), 7-6(6).
“He’ll be a good player,” said Fish of the 21-year-old spindly-legged Goffin. “He got better and better every set today. I served well and was sort of able to control the match with my serve. I played much better today than I did in the past two matches, for sure. This was the best player that I played so far. It was windy out there. I used that to my advantage. Growing up in Florida and playing in windy conditions most of my life, that doesn’t bother me.”
No. 7 seed David Ferrer will next meet No. 9 Juan Martin del Potro after Ferrer topped Andy Roddick 2-6, 7-6(8), 6-4, 6-3, and del Potro defeated Japan’s Kei Nishikori 6-3, 7-6(3), 6-1.
Roddick appeared to tear-up after the match, giving the Wimbledon crowd an extended goodbye and blowing kisses to the crowd as if possibly saying farewell to the All England Club for the last time.
In other results No. 27-seeded German Philipp Kohlschreiber ended the run of Rafa-killer Lukas Rosol in straight sets, and American qualifier Brian Baker continued his miraculous run, defeating unseeded Frenchman Benoit Paire in four sets.
The remaining men will all be in action Monday in the round of 16, featuring (3) Roger Federer vs. Xavier “X-Man” Malisse, (1) Novak Djokovic vs. Viktor Troicki, (4) Andy Murray vs. (16) Marin Cilic, (7) David Ferrer vs. (9) Juan Martin Del Potro, (5) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. (10) Mardy Fish, (18) Richard Gasquet vs. (31) Florian Mayer, (Q) Brian Baker vs. (27) Philipp Kohlschreiber, and Denis Istomin vs. (26) Mikhail Youzhny.
You Might Like:
Federer Flying High in Madrid; Roddick Getting Naked on Court
Roddick Surprises Murray, Meets Federer in Sunday Wimbledon Final
Andy Roddick on Williams Sisters Return: “Women’s Tennis Needs That Dominating Figure”
Opinion: Which Roddick Will Show at Washington?
Andy Roddick: I Haven’t Played My Best Since April 2009